The Siskiyou County Board of
Supervisors recently passed its preliminary balanced budget for 2008-09 for the estimated
amount of $142,397,553 in revenues. Until September, a fixed asset purchasing freeze and a
hiring freeze to replace personnel will be in effect. The State is experiencing an $18
billion shortfall, but specific cuts are not yet known.
As explained in previous columns, the County budget is separated into
various pots of money which, in large part, are earmarked for specific services. Some,
such as Human Services, Public Health and Child Support are basically state programs
delivered by the County. These programs are largely funded by the state, but may require a
small maintenance of effort (MOE) payment by the County General Fund. The trend is for
more and more state costs to be shifted to the County General Fund. Behavioral Health is
also a state program, but the mental health portion it is paid mostly by MediCal, while
alcohol and drug services are operated out of one bulk or block payment amount.
There are also certain county enterprises, such as the STAGE bus
service, the airports and the landfills that bring in some income to offset expenses. The
road department is operated out of its own “fund,” which includes money from
gasoline tax, state propositions and federal and state grants. This year’s
preliminary road budget does not include the $3.6 million it would receive from a
continuation of Title I of the Secure Schools and Communities Self Determination Act
(federal backfill for loss of timber receipts.) A one year extension is currently in the
Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill, although a bill to extend the act for another four years
recently failed in the House.
The remainder of services is paid out of the General Fund, although
some costs are partially offset by fees. These “discretionary” General Fund
departments include the Sheriff, Jail, District Attorney, Public Defender, Probation, County
Counsel, Tax Collector, Assessor, Auditor, Administrator, County Clerk, Library,
Agriculture, Farm Advisor, Building, Planning, Veterans Services, County Fire and the
Museum. The budget for all these services is $34,645,416.
The $34.6 million comes from many small revenue streams, such as:
secured property tax at $8.7 million; motor vehicle tax at $4.8 million; sales tax at
$800,000; delinquent taxes at $539,000;
unsecured property tax at $530,000; motel tax
at $520,000; private timber taxes at $480,000; and Box Canyon dam at $440,000.
The preliminary General Fund budget assumes that we will continue to
receive $1.4 million dollars in Title II and III funds from a one year continuation of the
Secure Schools money. (This goes to offset County Fire, Sheriff, Land Planning and Search
and Rescue expenses.) The budget also assumes a continued partial payment of $720,000 in
federal PILT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes – The federal government pays no property
taxes.) It also assumes continued backfill (“subventions”) by the State to the
County for a loss in property tax due to Williamson Act open space contracts in the amount
of $770,000 and continued payment of Rural Crime monies in the Amount of $500,000. That is $3.2 million of uncertain revenues assumed
in the preliminary budget. If they do not materialize, this would mean additional heavy
cuts in the final September budget.
Payments of $131,000 will go to Economic Development and the
operation of the new Enterprise Zone. $81,000 will go to tourism advertising efforts and
$5,000 to the Arts Council. The budget also assumes purchase of two new programs to
automate payment claims from the departments to the Auditor’s office and one to
automate the Board of Supervisor’s agenda process for the Clerk’s Office. (This
program will allow the public to access agenda documents online and has future streaming
video capabilities for the public to watch Board meetings online.)
Indications are that the non-General Fund programs will be cut at
least 10 percent by the State and that State payments in reimbursement to the County for
services will be delayed by 3-4 months. (As indicated in a prior column, this will require
us to borrow $8-9 million in the short term to meet cash flow requirements.) It is also
being decided whether some State adult prisoners will be sent back to the Counties for
(non-existent) re-entry programs. (Currently, all female juveniles and all but the most
violent male juvenile offenders have been returned to the County.)
The County has outstanding loans of about $2.4 million for landfill
related expenses. There is about $1.9 million outstanding on the juvenile hall loan, but
money has been set-aside for this. The County also has a $16.4 million pension obligation
loan, for which it makes payments. In the future, County offices will be leaving the
courthouse as the state and court take over the property and build onto the back. Building
and Planning staff have already moved over to the old Public Health building and some of
the Sheriff’s staff have moved into the old Planning offices. Additional building
costs are anticipated in the future.
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